Method and storage device for expanding and contracting continuous play media seamlessly

ABSTRACT

One aspect of the invention is a method for playing a stored content providing a plurality of segments which collectively contains the stored content, each segment has using first terminus and a second terminus with the content having a temporal flow from the first terminus to the second terminus. At least one segment is associated with a plurality of links to other segments. The method includes playing at least one segment with the temporal flow, determining whether a content expansion is desired prior to reaching the second terminus. If the content expansion is desired, then linking to an expansion segment and playing the expansion segment. If the content expansion is not desired, then linking to a continuing segment and playing the continuing segment. The method includes an additional link from the expansion segment to the continuing segment such that the continuing segment is played after the expansion segment has been played. Other aspects of the invention include other methods for playing stored content, for capturing and playing content, capturing segment and linkage descriptions, storage devices of the segment content, storage mechanisms referencing the continuous media content by segments and linkages and apparatus for capturing and playing continuous media content.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

This invention pertains to the storage and interactive playing ofsegmented continuous play media sequences, and more particularly todigitally stored interactive multimedia content.

Continuous play media (“multimedia”) can be defined as minimallycontaining a stream of image or text content forming a perceivedcontinuity when presented to an observer/user. Continuous play media mayfurther contain content streams forming perceived audio continuitieswhen presented to an observer/user. Continuous play media may furthercontain other content streams including but not limited to closedcaptioned support for the acoustically impaired or closed captionedpresentation of dialogue in one or more alternative languages.

Image content streams as used herein will include but not be limited tomotion video streams as well as streams of text moving with regards tothe displayed view available to the user/observer. Programs may generatethese image streams, where the displayed view is altered in a mannerrendered essentially continuous. Implementation environments for suchgenerating programs include but are not limited to language environmentsfor C, C++, Java, Lingo™ by Macromedia as well as various low levelmachine independent and/or machine dependent assembly languages.Examples of such implementations include but are not limited to motionpicture preambles and postambles, often incorporating still images,textual credits and copyrights often further accompanied by music with amotion background or moving text providing a sense of continuity to theuser/observer. Such image content streams may be further accompanied byacoustic effects which augment, and in some cases, establish the senseof continuity experienced by the user/observer.

Contemporary technology has driven down the cost of storing continuousplay media, allowing the recording of large amounts of audio-videocontent onto a compact disk or DVD disk by a growing number of people,businesses and institutions. Continuously play media recordings and theplaying of such recordings began in large numbers with the video tapeplayers and their successors, Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs). Suchtechnologies could record and play one to several hours of televisiongrade audio-video content. The user could control the player to rewind,fast forward, pause, stop and start at a given moment in the recordedpresentation. Many of these units could record material, usuallyreceived from a television signal, as well as play pre-recordedmaterial. Standard implementations of this technology record or playonly one multi-media stream at a time without multiplexing schemessupporting multiple simultaneous streams.

More recently, digital continuous play media technologies based uponimage compression techniques such as QuickTime™ by Apple, MPEG 1, MPEG 2and DVD have become quite popular. Such technologies are typically usedto create a single long playing sequence, such as a motion picture,documentary or training session. User controls for playing suchrecordings are very similar to earlier controls found on video tapeplayers and VCRs. All of these prior methods of playing and storingcontinuous play media have a limitation in presenting complex subjects,namely that there presentation is flat, there is no way for theuser/observer to alter the stream to delve into a topic as a contiguouspart of the stream.

The Internet and World Wide Web have accelerated the proliferation ofhypertext documents. Hypertext possesses highlighted triggers embeddedinto a viewed document, which when selected, cause the document viewerto display a different view of either the same document or a differentdocument. There is a “back” button on most hypertext viewing systems,which when pushed, causes the view to return to the previous view. Thesehypertext documents are rapidly creating a new class of interactivedocuments, allowing a much higher level of complexity to be traversed byreaders of greatly varying backgrounds. People may follow many of thehypertext links, or few of the hypertext links depending upon theirpreferences. However, the approach of hypertext is not continuous playmedia, it does not create audio-visual streams, but screens of text andpictures primarily, which only move when the user/observer urges them tomove. When a hypertext document references a continuous play media file,such as a Quicktime file, it is loaded and played with controls much asa VCR possesses.

Television, long one of the dominant cultural forces in image contentpresentation has reached a difficult impasse. Television in the UnitedStates is largely supported by revenues from advertising. The Internetthreatens such revenues. The reason is that many perceive the Internetas a better basis for advertising because people who are interested in aproduct can find out what they want to know about the product as theywish to find it out via hyper links. Today's television advertising isconstrained to present sound bites of very short duration possessing noability for the potential customer to direct an inquiry into facts theywish to know. Instead, television today forces repeated transmission ofthe same limited amount of information, never getting beyond thesimplest of messages concerning a product. What is needed is a method bywhich an advertiser's purchased bandwidth can be more efficientlyutilized to permit potential customers to query a larger cross sectionof information about the products advertised while insuring that thebasic product pitch is seen.

FIG. 1 displays a relevant prior art system comprising an enclosure 10,housing a display device 12, selector device 14, and communication (16and 18) between selector device and system plus speakers (20). Enclosure10 is shown herein with minimal detail by way of illustration. Inpractice, prior art system enclosures relevant to this invention includebut are not limited to television-style cases, desktop computerenclosures, notebook computer enclosures. Many of these enclosures 10incorporate speakers 20 without them being perceived separately asindicated in this figure. Note that there are a number of systemscontaining more than one enclosure, such as a number of desktopcomputers, televisions with set top boxes and often, additional contentplayers such as DVD players.

Relevant prior art display devices 12 are also widely varied in form andspecifics of operation. Relevant prior art display devices 12 maypresent black and white or color images. Relevant prior art displaydevices 12 may support either a vector or raster format. Relevant priorart display devices 12 may present images in either a 2-D, 3-D ormulti-dimensional presentation view or collection of views.

Relevant embodiments of selector device 14 include but are not limitedto contemporary television channel selectors, home entertainment centerremote controls, computer pointing devices including but not limited to3-D and 2-D mouse-style pointers, pen tablets, track balls, touch pads,key pads and joysticks. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the selector devicecommunicates via physical transport mechanism 16 with an interface 18housed in enclosure 10. Relevant physical transport mechanisms 16include but are not limited to infra-red, micro-wave and other similarwireless transport layers, as well as wires and optical fiber. Themechanism by which communication is carried out based upon the specificphysical transport mechanism employed is not relevant to this inventionand will not be discussed for that reason. Additional IO devices such asprinters and keyboards may be attached to various relevant, prior artsystems. Keyboards may house touch pads and mouse sticks which incertain cases are the relevant selector device of that system.

FIG. 2 displays a block diagram of an exemplary prior art system such asdisplayed in FIG. 1. The units (12, 14, 20, 36 and 44) on the left sideof this figure all have a major role in the input and output flowsprocessed and controlled by the second column of units (24, 18, 32, 40and 48), respectively. The data transport mechanisms between units (12,14, 20, 36 and 44) and units (24, 18, 32, 40 and 48) are represented byarrows (22, 16, 30, 38 and 46), respectively. These units interact witheach other and an overall control circuit labeled digital processor 56via arrows representing buses (26, 28, 34, 42, 50, 52 and 54). Digitalprocessor 56 in turn has RAM 62 and Nonvolatile memory 66 which itcontrols and uses to direct the overall operation of relevant prior artsystems via buses designated as arrows (58, 60, 64 and 68).

Relevant prior art display devices 12 may present black and white orcolor images in either a vector or raster format representing images ineither a 2-D, 3-D or multi-dimensional presentation view or collectionof views. Relevant display data transport 22 includes but is not limitedto NTSC, PAL or various HDTV television protocols of either analog ordigital formats, as well as digital and analog RGB and various flatpanel display interface protocols as are often used with computerdisplays. Many systems today possess a specialized display controller24, which often incorporates one or more temporary frame buffers andMPEG decoding acceleration technology as well as acceleration technologyfor a variety of graphics operation. The communication mechanism 26 bywhich these units interact with the rest of an exemplary prior artsystem include but are not limited to microcomputer busses such as PCIand AGP as well as dedicated communication paths represented within line52.

The selector device 14, selector device communication mechanism 16 andselector interface 18 have been discussed above. The communicationbetween the selector interface 18 and the rest of the system is denotedby arrow 28. Embodiments of arrow 28 include but are not limited toaddressable interfaces on computer busses including but not limited toISA, PCI and USB.

Relevant prior art speakers 20 communicate with audio generator 32 viaarrow 30. Arrow 30 designates communication mechanisms including but notlimited to analog signaling or digital signaling. Arrow 30communications may be physically transported by wireline technologyincluding but not limited to twisted wire pairs and coaxial cabling, aswell as wireless technology including but not limited to short rangeradio and infra red mechanisms. Audio generator 32 may perform decodingfunctions such as translation of encoded MPEG audio streams delivered byarrow 34 from the overall internal communications network 52 possiblyfrom the player controller 40 or external interface 48 or displaycontroller 24. Power amplification of the audio signals may be doneeither by audio generator 32, within the speakers 20 or involve both.Embodiments of the audio generator interface 34 to the internalcommunications network 52 include but are not limited to addressableinterfaces on computer busses including but not limited to ISA, PCI andUSB.

Relevant, prior art content player 36 communicates with contentcontroller 40 via arrow 38. Content player 36 embodiments include butare not limited to optical disk players and electromagnetic disk playersof either a removable or non-removable media. These content players 36embodiments further include but are not limited to CD ROM, MPEG and DVDplayers. Such content player 36 embodiments may further include theability to write to the storage media as well as play the storage media.Relevant player controller 40 embodiments include but are not limited tovarious SCSI controllers, specialized optical disk controllers,specialized hard disk controllers and RAID disk array controllers.Player controller 40 embodiments may further include but are not limitedto various continuous play media compression decoders: MPEG decoders andDVD decoders. Relevant prior art communications mechanisms 38 includebut are not limited to various SCSI, RAID, ISA and EISA interfaces.

Relevant prior art player controllers 40 often, but not always,partition a continuous play media stream received via 38 from contentplayer 36 into an audio stream and a video stream. The audio stream issent via communication path (arrows 42 to 52 to 34) to audio generator32 to drive speakers 20. This communication path may be incorporatedinto an overall bus protocol, or be a separate signal path, dependingupon the specific implementation. The video stream would be sent viacommunication path (arrows 42 to 52 to 26) to display controller 24 todrive display 12. The actual decoding of the video stream is often doneprimarily in display controller 24, but in certain instances, digitalprocessor 56 and player controller 40 may contribute to the videodecoding process. There are also situations in which relevant prior artsystems employ display controller 24 to partition a continuous playmedia stream into separate one or more audio streams and at least onevideo stream. Such systems include many set top box architectures.

Note that in relevant prior art systems, there may be more than onecontent player 36 with potentially distinct player controllers 40 andcommunication paths 38. One content player 36 might support a writeableCD ROM using a SCSI 38 based controller 40 as well as a second DVD-ROMplayer with its own cabling 38 and player controller 40.

Another relevant source of continuous play media content is provided viaexternal content 44 communicating with external interface 48 via arrow46. One relevant external interface 48 is a radio frequency (RF) tuner.Relevant RF tuners 48 include but are not limited to demodulators and/ormodulators for various broadcast protocols such as Frequency Modulation(FM), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division MultipleAccess (TDMA), various spread spectrum protocols, Wavelength DivisionMultiple Access and wavelet division multiple access. Relevant spreadspectrum protocols further include but are not limited to DirectSequence, Frequency Hopping, Time Hopping and Wideband CDMA. Theserelevant RF tuners may be connected 46 by wireline or wireless physicaltransport layers. Relevant wireline physical transports include but arelimited to twisted pair, coaxial cable and various optical fibermechanisms. Relevant wireless physical transports 46 includecontemporary broadcast television, High Definition TV (HDTV), as well asvarious radio frequency, microwave and infra red schemes which may wellincorporate an antenna, sensor or array of antennas or sensors.

Another relevant external interface 48 is a modem. Relevant modemsinclude but are not limited to telephone line modems incorporatingvarious transceiver rates which may not be the same for reception as fortransmission, as well as various DSL, ADSL, XDSL, ISBN, Ethernet, TokenRing and ATM interfaces. Physical transport layer 46 for modems includebut are not limited to wire line and wireless transport layers. Wireline physical transport layers 46 include but are not limited totelephone lines, twisted pair wire lines, coaxial cabling and variousoptical fiber technologies. Wireless transport layers 46 include but arenot limited to directional and non-directional radio, microwave,infrared and optical schemes.

The external content 44 may be located a substantial distance away fromthe enclosure 10. The external content 44 is often embodied in manycircumstances within a server supporting a network of user systems viainterconnections 46 of these external interfaces 48. Such networks maywell support TCP/IP thereby enabling support for the Internet. Suchnetworks may further support one or more Intranets. Such networks mayfurther support one or more Extranets.

Another form of external content 44 includes video input devices. Theseoften possess external interfaces 48, which include video framecapturing circuitry. Such external interfaces 48 are now includingadvanced image processing, often further supporting MPEG compatiblecompression of the captured video stream.

Note that in many relevant prior art systems, there is more than onekind of external content 44 and external interface 48 with potentiallydifferent communication paths 46. A desktop box might possess both a RFtuner using an antenna as well as an optical fiber interface to a cabletelevision provider. A notebook computer might well have both atelephone line modem and an Ethernet LAN interface.

Relevant prior art digital processor 56 embodiments include but are notlimited to one or more of the following: general purposemicroprocessors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), parallel processors,embedded controllers and special purpose system controllers. Generalpurpose microprocessors include but are not limited to various wordwidth Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC) and Reduced InstructionSet Computers (RISC). DSPs include but are not limited to various wordwidth computers employing instruction sets allowing at least oneadd/subtract operation as well as at least one operation comparable tomultiplication to be performed in a single instruction cycle. Parallelprocessors include but are not limited to Single Instruction MultipleDatapath (SIMD), Multiple Instruction Multiple Datapath (MIMD), andhybrid SIMD/MIMD organizations of either uniform or non-uniformprocessors. Uniform processor parallel processors employ essentially thesame processor uniformly. Non-uniform processor parallel processors donot employ essentially the same processor throughout. Embeddedcontrollers often incorporate either one or more microprocessors or DSPsalong with additional circuitry performing specialized data processing,which may include but is not limited to MPEG stream partitioning and/ordecoding, copy protection processing, decryption, authentication andblock data error detection and correction. Special purpose systemcontrollers include but are not limited to various implementations asProgrammable Logic Arrays (PLAs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices(CPLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs) and Application Specific Standard Products(ASSPs).

Relevant prior art digital processors 56 often possess local memoryresources in the form of RAM 62 and nonvolatile memory 66, interfacedvia busses 58, 60, 64 and 68. The RAM may include but is not limited tovarious forms of RAM and one or more caching banks of RAM. Relevantprior art digital processor 56 embodiments may include but are notlimited to one or more of memory caches physically proximate to andpossibly contained within the digital processor 56 package or packages.Memory caching may include but is not limited to separate caching ofmemory and data. Memory caching may further include but is not limitedto multiple layers of cache structures. Distinct processors within thedigital processor 56 may further possess distinct caches as well asfurther localized memory which may in turn include RAM and/ornonvolatile memory. Relevant prior art nonvolatile memory may includebut is not limited to boot ROMs and flash memory circuits which mayfurther emulate disk drives with a form of file management system. Suchnonvolatile memory 66 embodiments may be used to initialize the systemas well as provide security and accounting information or store content.

From the user perspective, relevant prior art systems play continuousplay media content recordings much as did predecessor VCR systems. Theycan start at the beginning, or partially through a sequence, andprogress forward pausing, stopping and possibly rewinding. Internetaccess has allowed hypertext-based web sites to provide hot keyssupporting the downloading and playing of continuous play mediasequences, but again, once downloaded, the continuous play mediasequence playing controls are essentially those found on a VCR. Moderntelevision, particularly cable and satellite broadcast televisionpossesses a fairly large number of channels, often over a hundred, to bemultiplexed and modulated at the broadcast site and demodulated at thecustomer/user site into these separate channels. The signal protocols incommon use deserve some discussion. These relevant, prior art televisionchannels tend to employ an MPEG continuous play media stream, with anaudio stream and a video stream component.

Consider first what happens in the video stream. MPEG video compressionmechanisms utilize an initializing video frame compressed in a mannersimilar to a still frame, followed by motion compensation dataessentially transforming this initial frame into a succession ofsubsequent motion frames. Every so often, a new initializing frame issent, followed by motion compensation data again transforming the newinitial frame into a new sequence of subsequent motion frames. Thecompression ratios compared to the raw data are impressive, often areduction in data size of 200 to 1 can be achieved without noticeableloss of visual clarity. This compression ratio enables this large numberof channels to be cost effectively broadcast by satellite and cabletelevision companies.

Consider what happens when someone changes television channels. The MPEGstream of the new channel is isolated and demodulated from thetelevision broadband transmission into a video stream and an audiostream. The video stream is scanned until the next initializing videoframe is encountered. Once encountered, the MPEG video decoderinitializes its output stream and motion video frames follow shortlyfrom this initialization frame. These initialization frames occurfrequently enough that there is a barely noticeable delay between whenone turns to a new channel and the channel's video stream is beingdisplayed. If at this point, the channel is again changed, a short timelater there is another initialization video frame observed, the motionframe sequencing begins again. However, there is no mechanism tocompensate for or retain whatever has transpired on the originalchannel. Once these motion frame sequences have passed by, they aregone.

The audio streams also possess an initialization structure which isasserted from time to time, followed by the time varying incrementalaudio stream modifications. While the audio and video frames do notnecessarily initialize simultaneously, there are synchronizationcontrols between them to facilitate time-aligning them to each other.Taken collectively, there is a certain rationale in consideringcontemporary continuous play media to be segmented. The block codingused in both transmission and storage of digital continuous play mediareinforces the sense of segmentation of continuous play media into shortsequences of motion frames (video stream) and the associated audiostream. However, there are no embedded cues within these streams toindicate expansion possibilities or to direct such expansions, or directthe return to provide continuity with the original stream segments.

What is needed is a method of playing and storing a segmented continuousplay media stream which expands and contracts the viewing material basedupon the user/observer's and/or system/agent(s)' selections.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention is implemented as a method for playing astored content providing a plurality of segments which collectivelycontains the stored content. Each of the segments has a first terminusand a second terminus, where the content in each of the segments has atemporal flow from the first terminus to the second terminus. At leastone segment is associated with a plurality of links to a correspondingplurality of other segments.

The method includes playing at least one segment with the temporal flow,determining whether a content expansion is desired prior to reaching thesecond terminus. If the content expansion is desired, then linking to anexpansion segment and playing the expansion segment. If the contentexpansion is not desired, then linking to a continuing segment andplaying the continuing segment. The method includes an additional linkfrom the expansion segment to the continuing segment such that thecontinuing segment is played after the expansion segment has beenplayed.

This method is advantageous in providing the user and content providerwith a much greater degree of freedom in traversing the contentprovided. Topics can be expanded upon user request. The individual whowants to know about the gas ant mileage of an automobile shown in acommercial may find out about it, whereas someone interested in thesafety features can delve into that while the advertiser is assured thatthe basic advertising pitch will be presented in a cinematic fashion.

Another aspect of the invention includes a method for playing a storedcontent providing a plurality of segments which collectively comprisethe stored content. Each of the segments has a first terminus and asecond terminus and a continuity link associated with a member of thecollection of a segment indicator and a non-segment indicator. Contentin each of the segments has a temporal flow from the first terminus tothe second terminus. At least one segment is associated with a pluralityof expansion links to a corresponding plurality of other of thesegments.

The method of playing includes: Playing the at least one segment withthe temporal flow. Determining whether a content expansion is desiredprior to reaching the second terminus. If the content expansion isdesired, then linking to an expansion segment, pushing the continuitylink onto a link stack and playing the expansion segment. If the contentexpansion is not desired and if the continuity link indicates thecontinuing segment then linking to a continuing segment and playing thecontinuing segment.

This method is advantageous in providing the user and content providerwith a much greater degree of freedom in traversing the contentprovided. Topics can be expanded upon user request. The individual whowants to know about the gas mileage of an automobile shown in acommercial may find out about it, whereas someone interested in thesafety features can delve into that while the advertiser is assured thatthe basic advertising pitch will be presented in a cinematic fashion.

This method is further advantageous in providing the ability to share anexpansion segment or collection of nested expansion segments in morethan one segment designating the same expansion segment. Such segmentscapable of being shared as expansion segments are indicated bycontinuity segment links indicating a non-segment.

Another aspect of the invention includes a storage device for asegmented continuous play media stream containing at least threesegments. Each segment contains a first terminus and a second terminus.The segmented continuous play media stream within each segmentprogresses from the first terminus to the second terminus.

At least one segment of the storage device contains a plurality of linksto a corresponding plurality of other segments further comprising acontinuation link and at least one expansion link. A cue is associatedwith each of the expansion links. Each cue may be stored in thecontaining segment substantially before the segmented continuous playmedia stream progresses to the second terminus of the containingsegment. The segmented continuous play media stream of the containingsegment progresses to the first terminus of the correspondingcontinuation link segment after progress to the containing segmentsecond terminus. The segmented continuous play media stream of thecontaining segment progresses to the first terminus of the correspondingexpansion link segment after progress to the containing segment secondterminus.

Such a storage device is advantageous for providing segmented continuousplay media which may by played by the above methods which provide a muchgreater degree of freedom in traversing the stored content. Topics canbe expanded upon user request. The individual who wants to know aboutthe gas mileage of an automobile shown in a commercial may find outabout it, whereas someone interested in the safety features can delveinto that while the advertiser is assured that the basic advertisingpitch will be traversed in a cinematic fashion.

Another aspect of the invention includes a storage mechanism referencinga continuous play media stream segment store containing a collection ofat least three segment descriptors and a collection of at least oneexpansion link element.

Each of the segment descriptors of the storage mechanism contains afirst terminus, a second terminus and a continuity link. The firstterminus referencing a first time point of a continuous play mediastream segment contained in the continuous play media stream segmentstore. The second terminus referencing a second time point of thecontinuous play media stream segment contained in the continuous playmedia stream segment store. The continuity link represents one of acollection containing an indicator of another of the segment descriptorsand an indicator to a non-segment.

Each of the expansion link elements of the storage mechanism contains anexpansion segment indicator, an expansion cue indicator and an indicatorof another of the expansion link elements or of a non-expansion linkelement. Each of the segment descriptors further contains an indicatorof an expansion link element.

Such a storage mechanism is advantageous for providing segmentedcontinuous play media which may by played by the above methods whichprovide a much greater degree of freedom in traversing the storedcontent. Topics can be expanded upon user request. The individual whowants to know about the gas mileage of an automobile shown in acommercial may find out about it, whereas someone interested in thesafety features can delve into that while the advertiser is assured thatthe basic advertising pitch will be traversed in a cinematic fashion.

Such a storage mechanism is further advantageous in supporting more thanone mechanism whereby alternative traversal of a common continuous playmedia library is provided. One traversal of a television soap operalibrary may focus on character evolution, whereas another may focus onfamily relationships and another, on adulterous relationships. Suchtraversals would reference the common continuous play media library, butestablish at least partially divergent expansions.

Another aspect of the invention includes a method for capturing andplaying a continuous content including capturing a plurality ofsegments, playing at least one stored content segment, determiningwhether a content expansion is desired, linking to other segments andplaying other segments.

The method includes capturing of at least one continuous play mediastream collectively contains the continuous content providingcorresponding stored content segments each having a first terminus and asecond terminus, where the content has a temporal flow from the firstterminus to the second terminus. At least one segment is associated witha plurality of links to a corresponding plurality of the other segments.

The method further includes playing the stored content segment withtemporal flow and determining whether a content expansion is desiredprior to reaching the second terminus. If the content expansion isdesired then linking to an expansion segment and playing the expansionsegment of stored content. If the content expansion is not desired thenlinking to a continuing segment of stored content and playing thecontinuing segment of stored content. There is an additional link fromthe expansion segment of stored content to the continuing segment ofstored content such that the continuing segment of stored content isplayed after the expansion segment of stored content has been played.

This method advantageously provides for the capturing of a continuousplay media stream content and playing of that content. Different userscan play and expand the content based upon their individual choices. Byway of example, a viewer of a sporting event may chose to expand recentperformances of a team or team member, whereas another viewer may choseto examine recent news and interviews with a coach or team manager.

A further advantage of this method is the ability for selectedadvertising to gain in depth rather than just repeat or rotate the sameprespecified commercial content with no added informational depth ondemand. This supports a smarter use of advertising content, providingadvertisers with the ability to build up information content, with akinesthetic interface to expand and examine selected details otherwiseunavailable through a media such as television as it is known today.

Another aspect of the invention includes a method of capturingreferences to a continuous play media stream segment store includingcapturing a collection of at least three segment descriptors andcapturing a collection of at least one expansion link elements.

Each of the segment descriptors of the method includes a first terminus,a second terminus and a continuity link. The first terminus references afirst time point of a continuous play media stream segment contained inthe continuous play media stream segment store. The second terminusreferences a second time point of the continuous play media streamsegment contained in the continuous play media stream segment store. Thecontinuity link represents one of a collection including an indicator ofanother of the segment descriptors and an indicator to a non-segment.

Each of the expansion link elements of this method includes an expansionsegment indicator, an expansion cue indicator and an indicator of eitheran indicator of another of the expansion link elements and an indicatorof a non-expansion link element. Each of the segment descriptors furtherincludes one of the indicators of one of the expansion link element.

This method advantageously provides for the capture of references to acontinuous play media stream segment store supporting differingexpansion services. In a sporting event expansion service: one servicemay support recent sporting performances, another might incorporateperformance statistics and a third might support recent interviews andexpert commentary related to specific players or teams.

Another aspect of the invention includes an apparatus to store and playa continuous play media stream including an external interface circuit,a writeable content store, a digital controller, a display circuit and aselector circuit. The external interface circuit receives at least onecontinuous play media stream segment. The writeable content store iscoupled to the external interface circuit by which the segments of thereceived continuous play media stream may be transferred and stored. Thedigital controller is coupled to the external interface circuit and iscoupled to the writeable content store. The digital controller furthercontains a link segment association table. The display circuit iscoupled to the digital controller. The display circuit is furthercoupled to the writeable content store. The selector circuit is coupledto the digital controller sending selector data to the digitalcontroller.

The digital controller of the apparatus controls the writeable contentstore and the display circuit to transfer the stored continuous playmedia stream segment to the display circuit based upon the selector datareceived by the digital controller and the link segment associationtable. The digital controller further controls the display circuit toplay the transferred continuous play media stream segment by the displaycircuit based upon the selector data received by the digital controllerand the link segment association table.

The apparatus has the advantage of being able to capture a live streamand perform content expansions without losing the live content. Thisapparatus provides the necessary architectural capabilities to archivecontinuous stream segments locally to build a continuous play mediastore.

Another advantage of this apparatus is the minimal network overhead tomaintain and extend a continuous play media store for an ongoing seriesof performances such as sporting events, episodes of a televisionseries, news reports and interviews with celebrities and experts.

A further advantage of this apparatus is the ability for selectedadvertising to gain in depth rather than just repeat the same commercialcontent with no added informational depth. This apparatus supports asmarter use of advertising content, providing advertisers with theability to build up information content on interested users localwriteable content store, with a kinesthetic interface to expand andexamine selected details otherwise unavailable through a media such astelevision as it is known today.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparentupon reading the following detailed descriptions and studying thevarious figures of the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 displays a prior art system comprising a display device, selectordevice, communication between selector device and system plus speakers;

FIG. 2 displays a block diagram of an exemplary prior system such asdisplayed in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A diagrams a basic temporal flow either expanding or not expandinga segment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3B schematically depicts the segment links between continuous playmedia segments of FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D depict moments in a temporal flow as seen by anobserver/user in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and 5E depict moments in a temporal flow as seen byan observer/user in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5F depicts various selector device motions which in certainembodiments may serve to select a visual cue without necessitatingpushing a button;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of playing segmented continuous playmedia content in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7A architecturally depicts part of a user interface for acontinuous play media segment expansion in accordance with an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 7B architecturally depicts part of a user interface for a differentcontinuous play media segment expansion in accordance with an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 8A depicts segment expansion utilizing a landing sub-segment inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8B depicts multiple expansion segments in accordance with anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8C depicts an annotation chart showing for use designing acontinuous play expansion segment system in accordance with certainembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9A depicts components included in a description of a segment inaccordance with embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9B depicts components included in a description of an expansionlink;

FIG. 9C depicts a collection 420 of segment descriptions, a collection460 of expansion links and a continuous play content store 470 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart depicting playing one or more continuous playsegments in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting fetching an expansion link list used asoperation 510 in FIG. 10 in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart depicting operation 528 from FIG. 10 whichdetermines whether the link stack has been fully processed in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a state table of a system in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention utilizing flowcharts 10-12 and segment descriptions,expansion links and overall structure of FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C to performactions as represented in FIGS. 3A and 3B;

FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with anembodiment of the invention supporting the capturing and playing ofcontinuous play expansion segments;

FIG. 15 shows a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with asecond embodiment of the invention supporting the capturing and playingof continuous play expansion segments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 and 2 were discussed with reference to the prior related art.FIG. 3A diagrams a basic temporal flow either expanding or not expandinga segment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Continuousplay media segments 100, 102 and 104 can either be played in that order,as indicated by arrow 106, or playing continuous play media segment 102can be followed by playing continuous play media segment 104 asindicated by the arrow composed of 108, 110 and 112. Component 108indicates that continuous play media segment 100 is played. Component110 indicates that segment 102 is not played, and that after at most asmall amount of time, component 112 indicates that continuous play mediasegment 104 is played. Note that in certain preferred embodiments atransition between playing segment 100 to playing segment 102 may beobserved by the user/observer. In certain other preferred embodiments, atransition between playing segment 102 to playing segment 104 may beobserved by the user/observer.

FIG. 3B schematically depicts the segment links between continuous playmedia segments of FIG. 3A. Continuous play media segment 100 has twolinks 114 and 116 to other continuous play media segments. Continuousplay media segment 100 contains a continuity link 114 to the start 120of continuous play media segment 104. The temporal start of a segment orframe sequence will be denoted as the first terminus and the temporalend of a segment or frame sequence will be denoted as the secondterminus hereafter. Continuous play media segment 100 contains anexpansion link 116 to continuous play media segment 102. Continuous playmedia segment 102 contains a link 118 to continuous play media segment104. In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, the link 118 maybe explicitly incorporated in segment 102. In certain preferredembodiments, the link 118 may be implicitly derived from the rememberedstate of the content player during the playing of segment 100. Incertain further preferred embodiments of the invention, this implicitderivation may be determined by a stack included in the content playerand the indication to do this in certain preferred embodiments is acontinuity link not indicating a segment. Segment 104 further contains asecond terminus with a continuity link 122 in certain preferredembodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D depict moments in a temporal flow as seen by anobserver/user in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4Ashows a continuous play sequence preceding the point of determiningwhether an expansion is desired in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. Visual cue 132 is seen against the basic continuous playsequence 130. By selecting this cue, the content of the continuous playexpansion is chosen. The visual cue in certain preferred embodiments ofthe invention may be specifically chosen shapes. In certain preferredembodiments, the visual cues may be visually highlighted shapes. Incertain preferred embodiments, the visual cues may be essentiallystationary upon the viewed display. In certain preferred embodiments ofthe invention, the visual cues at least occasionally move with respectto the view display.

FIG. 4B shows the user view of the linking to the continuous playexpansion content in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Visual cue 132 is successively expanded as shown in sequence 132, 134and 136 so that the background 138 is rendered essentially trivial, ifnot actually non-existent from the user's perspective. Such a sequencein certain preferred embodiments acts as a transition between the playedsegment in which the expansion request is determined and the expansionsegment which is played in response to the expansion request.

FIG. 4C shows the user view of the start of the continuous playexpansion content in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Theexpansion content is presented in region 140 of the display, with aminimal or non-existent background 142. In certain preferred embodimentsof the invention, the minimal background 142 is used for presentinglimited content messages. In certain further preferred embodiments ofthe invention, the minimal background 142 is further used to presentadvertising or announcements such as broadcast television stormwarnings.

FIG. 4D shows the user view of the continuity segment afterdetermination of whether to play the expansion content in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. Item 144 indicates the basiccontent of the continuous play media of the continuing segment withoutthe previous expansion cue being presented. Note that if there was noselection of the expansion content during the sequence shown in FIG. 4A,then the sequence shown in FIG. 4D would be what the user would seerather than the material shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C. Note that in certainpreferred embodiments of the invention, a transition such as depicted inFIG. 4B displayed as a sequence from 140 to 136 to 134 to 132 to 144 canact as a transition from the playing of the desired transition segmentto playing the continuing segment as depicted with FIG. 4D.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and 5E depict moments in a temporal flow as seen byan observer/user in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. FIG.5A shows the user view of multiple expansion cues 152 and 156 furthercontained in an expansion cue container 150 in accordance with anembodiment of the invention where expansion cue 152 is being removedfrom expansion cue container 150. The visual cue container 150 incertain preferred embodiments of the invention may be specificallychosen shapes. In certain preferred embodiments, the visual cuecontainer 150 may be visually highlighted shapes. In certain preferredembodiments, the visual cue containers 150 may be essentially stationaryupon the viewed display. In certain preferred embodiments of theinvention, the visual cue containers 150 at least occasionally move withrespect to the viewable display. In another preferred embodiment, themotion 154 is part of the continuous play media stream.

FIG. 5B shows the user view of multiple expansion cues 152 and 156 withexpansion cue 156 contained in an expansion cue container 150 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention where expansion cue 152is further highlighted 160. Visual cue 152 is highlighted as depicted byregion 160. Arrows 158 and 162 denote motion of the visual cue 152 withrespect to the viewable display. Such motions 158 and 162 in certainpreferred embodiments of the invention may be caused by the user'saction. In certain other preferred embodiments, the motion depicted byarrows 162 and 158 depict motion partially the result of action by theuser 158 and partially the response of the system 162. In certainpreferred embodiments of the invention, a visual cue 152 is onlyactivated for response by removal from a visual cue container 150. Incertain other preferred embodiments of the invention, visual cues withina visual cue container 150 become activated for selection when the userselects a visual cue container 150. Both motions 158 and 162 may be theresult of the system responding to a selection regarding the expansioncue 152. In another preferred embodiment, the motions 158 and 162 arepart of the continuous play media stream.

FIG. 5C shows the user view of multiple expansion cues 152 and 156 withexpansion cue 156 contained in an expansion cue container 150 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention where expansion cue 152is further highlighted 160. In certain preferred embodiments, a visualcue 152 when highlighted 160 may be selected by a user.

FIG. 5D shows the user view of multiple expansion cues 152 and 156 withexpansion cue 156 contained in an expansion cue container 150 uponselecting expansion cue 152 and linking to expansion content is shown insequence 162 and 164. User selection of visual cue 152 causes the visualcue, in this case, a wallet, to cause a content expansion. This contentexpansion has a transition sequence depicted by 162 and 164. The walletis opened in 162 and then expands in size with 164.

FIG. 5E shows the user view of multiple expansion cues 152 and 156further contained in an expansion cue container 150 in accordance withan embodiment of the invention where expansion cue 152 is highlighted160 and expansion cue 156 is removed from expansion cue container 150and is further highlighted 166. The user moves visual cue 156 outsidethe visual cue container 150 in certain preferred embodiments. Onceoutside the visual cue container, the visual cue 156 becomes highlighted166. In certain preferred embodiments of the invention the user canselect to activate all the visual cues contained in a visual cuecontainer by a specific selection. In certain preferred embodiments ofthe invention, the user can select to activate multiple visual cuescontained in a visual cue container by a single selection. In certainfurther preferred embodiments of the invention, the activation ofmultiple visual cues may be done be selecting some shared property,including but not limited to performance statistics of the members of asporting team or interviews with experts and stars, by way of example.

In certain embodiments, the container 150 is not interactivelyaccessible. Container 150 in such embodiments may move or be manipulatedonly as shown in the continuous play media stream. Objects inserted intoand/or removed from such containers may be highlighted to indicatepossible selection for expansion. By way of example, a personinterviewed may pull something from their handbag and it may behighlighted for possible expansion. In certain further preferredembodiments, the user may select the expansion. In other furtherpreferred embodiments, the expansion selection may be automated.

FIG. 5F depicts various selector device motions which in certainembodiments may serve to select a visual cue without necessitatingpushing a button. Selector device 170 is shown engaged by the user in avariety of different motions not necessarily involving button pushing bywhich content may be selected in accordance with various embodiments ofthe invention. Motion 172 shows a motion in a first direction with asharp change to a second direction essentially opposing to the firstdirection in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Motion 174shows a back and forth or zig-zag motion in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. Motion 176 shows a motion in a firstdirection with a sharp change to a second direction essentially opposingto the first direction in accordance with an embodiment of the inventionwhere the first and second directions are essentially opposite of thecorresponding directions of the motion 172. Motion 178 shows anessentially oval or circular motion in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention. Note that these motions have been shown as essentiallyplanar for the purposes of illustration alone. The portrayed motions mayfurther be seen as curves in three dimensions in accordance with otherpreferred embodiments of the invention. The specifics of which motionshave been portrayed are not meant to limit the invention to thesespecific selector motions, but instead indicate that user selection maybe achieved in certain preferred embodiments of the invention withoutthe necessity of pushing one or more buttons.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of playing segmented continuous playmedia content in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Operation 180 designates starting the method, which in certain preferredembodiments of the invention may include but is not limited toallocating system resources.

Arrow 182 designates an iterative point in the method leading to theexecution of operation 184. Operation 184 designates playing a contenthaving a temporal flow, starting at one point in time and progressing toa later point in time, a segment of continuous play media. Operation 186designates determining whether additional content has been indicated.Arrow 188 is followed when additional content has not been indicated,leading to execution of operation 190. Operation 190 designates playingthe continuing content having the temporal flow without appreciabledelay. In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, this entails arecursive execution of the operations starting at 180. Arrow 192 leadsto the execution of operation 194, which determines if this method isdone. If operation 194 determines that the method is not done, arrow 196direct the execution to arrow 182, which in turn leads to execution ofoperation 184 as discussed above. If operation 194 determines that theoperations are done, arrow 198 leads to the end, where any necessaryhousekeeping type functions such as closing files, releasing allocatedsystem resources, and the like may be performed to end the operations.

If operation 186 determines that additional expansion content should beplayed, arrow 200 directs execution to operation 202. Operation 202designates playing expansion content having the temporal flow withoutappreciable delay. In certain preferred embodiments of the invention,this entails a recursive execution of the operations starting at 180.Arrow 204 directs execution to arrow 188, which directs execution tooperation 190, which plays continuing content having the temporal flowwithout appreciable delay. In certain preferred embodiments of theinvention, this entails a recursive execution of the operations startingat 180.

FIG. 7A architecturally depicts part of a user interface for acontinuous play media segment expansion in accordance with an embodimentof the invention. The direction of temporal flow is indicated by arrow212. A preceding segment 210 and a succeeding segment 224 are shown byway of example. The discussion will focus on seamless expansion withinsegment 214. Note that by way of example, the segment 214 is shown as asingle contiguous segment within which expansion decision points 216,218, 220 and 222 occur. In certain preferred embodiments of theinvention, each of these decision points is at the ending terminus ofthe segment it is in and the beginning terminus of the continuingsegment. In certain alternative preferred embodiments, a single segment214 can possess multiple expansion decision points 216, 218, 220 and 222successively located before or at the second terminus of the segment214.

Note further that FIG. 7A shows expansion links 228, 236, 238 and 242respectively pointing to termini 226, 252, 254 and 256, which all sharea common segment 250 and possess a common second terminus 246.

In certain preffered embodiments of the invention, terminus 252 acts asthe second terminus of a segment with first terminus 226, as well asterminus 252 acting as the first terminus for a segment with secondterminus 254. Terminus 254 can further act as the first terminus of asegment with second terminus 256. Terminus 256 can act as the firstterminus of a segment with second terminus 246. In certain alternativeembodiments of the invention there are multiple expansion points 226,252, 254 and 256 successively arranged between the first terminus 226and second terminus 246 of the segment.

In certain situations, there may be many expansion links within arelatively short frame sequence. Such situations may be implemented asan additional kind of expansion link, possessing multiple decisionpoints where expansion to other segments may be performed. Thesedecisions may be as frequent as once per frame in certain embodiments.The referenced expansion segments may vary for each expansion decisionpoint in certain further preferred embodiments. The first and/or secondterminus of these referenced expansion segments may vary linearly withthe frame and/or temporal distance from the starting expansion decisionpoint in certain further preferred embodiments. In certain preferredembodiments, one or both of the termini may grow earlier or latertemporally with regards to the continuous play content.

FIG. 7B architecturally depicts part of a user interface for a differentcontinuous play media segment expansion in accordance with an embodimentof the invention. The direction of temporal flow is indicated by arrow212. A preceding segment 210 and a succeeding segment 224 are shown byway of example. The discussion will focus on seamless expansion withinsegment 214. Note that by way of example, the segment 214 is shown as asingle contiguous segment within which expansion decision points 216,218, 220 and 222 occur. In certain preferred embodiments of theinvention, each of these decision points is at the ending terminus ofthe segment it is in and the beginning terminus of the continuingsegment. In certain other preferred embodiments, a single segment 214can alternatively possess multiple expansion decision points 216, 218,220 and 222 successively located before or at the second terminus of thesegment 214.

Note further that FIG. 7B shows expansion links 228, 230, 236, 238 and242 respectively pointing to termini 226, 252, 254 and 256, which allshare a common segment 250 and possess a common second terminus 246.Note that expansion decision point 218 possesses two expansion links 230and 236, expansion point 220 possesses two expansion links 232 and 238and expansion point 222 possesses two expansion links 234 and 242.

In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, terminus 252 acts asthe second terminus of a segment with first terminus 226, as well asterminus 252 acting as the first terminus for a segment with secondterminus 254. Terminus 254 can further act as the first terminus of asegment with second terminus 256. Terminus 256 can act as the firstterminus of a segment with second terminus 246. In certain alternativeembodiments of the invention there are multiple expansion points 226,252, 254 and 256 successively arranged between the first terminus 226and second terminus 246 of the segment.

FIG. 8A depicts segment expansion utilizing a landing sub-segment inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Segment 260 possessesexpansion link 266 to the first terminus of segment 268. The continuitylink from segment 262 goes to the first terminus 264 of segment 274. Thecontinuation link after segment 268 goes not to segment 274's firstterminus 264, but to landing offset 272 temporally located after firstterminus 264. Several methods in accordance with various preferredembodiments of the invention supporting such situations will bediscussed later in this document.

FIG. 8B depicts multiple expansion segments in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. Segment 276 at its second terminuspossesses continuity link 278 and expansion links 280 and 282. Expansionlink 280 directs various embodiment of the invention to play segment284. Expansion link 282 directs various embodiment of the invention toplay segment 286. Premature contraction point 277 is temporally locatedafter the first terminus of segment 276 and before the second terminusof segment 276. Premature contraction point 277 has two links 294 and296. The user can select link 294, which acts to skip the contentbetween contraction point 277 and the second terminus of segment 276,thus triggering the determination of whether to expand segment 284 orexpand segment 286 or continue to segment 292. The user can select link296, which acts to skip the content between contraction point 277 andthe second terminus of 276 and continue playing segment 292.

The user choices in certain preferred embodiments may be automated to beperformed under the user's direction, which may be further given at asubstantially earlier time. An alternative preferred embodiment of theinvention automates the expansion selection mechanism at the behest ofthe editor or producer of the content. A further preferred embodiment ofthe invention automates the expansion mechanism based upon systemknowledge of the user. By way example, expansion content for a sevenyear girl may be substantially different than expansion content for aforty five year old architect.

The second terminus of segment 284 directs playing to continue at thefirst terminus of segment 292. Note that continuing to play at segment292 can be caused by either an explicit reference to segment 292 or byuse of a link stack and a continuity link for segment 284 indicating anon-segment as discussed with FIGS. 10 to 12.

The second terminus of segment 286 directs playing to continue at thefirst terminus of segment 292 via link 288. Premature contraction point287 is temporally located after the first terminus of segment 286 andbefore the second terminus of segment 286. Premature contraction point287 has one link 298. The user can select link 298, which acts to skipthe content between contraction point 287 and the second terminus ofsegment 286, and continue playing segment 292. Note that continuing toplay at segment 292 can be caused by either an explicit reference tosegment 292 or by use of a link stack and a continuity link for segment286 indicating a non-segment as discussed with FIGS. 10 to 12.

FIG. 8C depicts an annotation chart shown for use in designing acontinuous play expansion segment system in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. One of the first stages in making anexpansion segment content is the acquisition of continuous media streamcomponents. As was previously discussed, MPEG streams can be addresseddown to specific frames in a temporal sequence. It is to be noted thatraw video streams may be digitally captured and are also addressabledown to individual frames. This FIG. depicts the stage in the creationprocess when the designer has captured frame sequences 300, 320, 322,324, 326, 328 and 330. The figure represents one conceptual model of anannotation system where the scope, content and duration of the framesequences can be viewed in preparation for creating the links associatedwith the completed expansion media product. Note that the specific framesequences 300, 320, 322, 324, 326, 328 and 330 may be modified over timeby the edit process of which this chart is but one component.

In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, this chart uses anotation in which number of timing relation relationships can bederived. Two frame sequences may be temporally abutting, such assequence 322 and sequence 324, where the second terminus of framesequence 322 and the first terminus of sequence 324 are essentiallytemporally adjacent to each other. Frame sequences 326 and 328 display atemporal gap, where the second terminus of frame sequence 326 occurs aperceptible time before the first terminus of frame sequence 328 occurs.

Frame sequence 320 is nested within frame sequence 300, where the firstterminus of frame sequence 300 occurs at the same time or before thefirst terminus of 320, and the second terminus of frame sequence 320occurs at the same time or before the second terminus of frame sequence300. Frame sequences 322 and 326 share simultaneous starting times,where each frame sequence's first terminus occurs at essentially thesame time. Frame sequences 328 and 330 share simultaneous ending times,where each frame sequence's second terminus occurs at essentially thesame time.

Frame sequences 324 and 328 overlap, where the first terminus of thefirst frame sequence 324 occurs before the first terminus of the secondframe sequence 328 and the second terminus of the second frame sequence328 occurs after the second terminus of the first frame sequence 324.

Frame sequence 320 spans frames sequences 322 and 324, in that the firstterminus of frame sequence 320 occurs before the second terminus offrame sequence 322 and the second terminus of frame sequence 320 occursafter the first terminus of frame sequence 324. Another example ofspanning frame sequences 322 and 324 could also include a segmentstarting at 306 and ending at 310 in certain preferred embodiments ofthe invention. Such a segment would have a first terminus 306 occurringbefore the second terminus of frame sequence 322 and the second terminusof frame sequence, 310 occurs after the first terminus of frame sequence324.

In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, the end product ofthe segmentation design process is presentation upon a broadcast media,where bandwidth and local user content storage constraints maynecessitate organizing priorities for transmission and storage of theedited content. To this end and by way of example, consider thefollowing additional structural elements where the frame sequences areorganized into horizontal rows for certain further preferred embodimentsof the invention.

Frame sequence 300 is the top level of the presentation. This is thebasic material, which the designer wishes the users/observers totraverse. In a documentary setting, this is the basic information. In afictional setting, such as a soap opera, drama or comedy, this is thebasic episodic presentation. In an advertising setting, this is thebasic pitch material, often limited to 20 to 30 seconds in duration,which is currently transmitted repetitiously many times with noadditional content. In sports settings, this is the athletic event withcommercials and intermission events, which possess no ability for theusers/observers to focus the presentation upon their specific interests.This is the entirety of what can be presented today.

The second horizontal layer contains a single frame sequence 320. Notethat at this stage in the editing process, no segment linkages have beendetermined, so that while the material of 320 is continuous, it may besubsequently partitioned into more than one segment. In othercircumstances, frame sequence 320 may be provided with prematurecontraction points. Segmentation and premature contraction points can beadvantageously placed in an advertising setting within say the sportingevent presentation to allow the users to return to the sporting eventwhen the action on the field resumes, by way of example. Note that incertain preferred embodiments, the second row may represent thepreceding episode of a fictional, historical or documentary series. Incertain other preferred embodiments, the second row might be the secondhighest priority information documenting a product or service in anadvertisement.

The third horizontal layer contains frame sequences 322 and 324. Incertain circumstances, these frame sequences may represent framesequences from a previous episode which remain relevant, for instance,where the advertisers have stopped supporting a series, the removedframe sequences may be their previous advertisements. In certain otherpreferred embodiments, the content of the previous episode may have beenrendered irrelevant by subsequent events and therefore no longerrelevant to be stored. In certain other preferred embodiments of theinvention, each layer has lower priority for transmission and/orstorage, so that in various embodiments, the content of a layer mayeither be given a lower bandwidth budget or local user storage budget.Many of the compression technologies in use and under developmentsupport what is known as progressive encoding, which permits theallocation of varying amounts of bandwidth and/or storage for specificsegments, or in the case, layers of segments.

The fourth horizontal layer contains frame sequences 326 and 328. Incertain circumstances, these frame sequences may represent framesequences from a previous episode which remain relevant, for instance,where the advertisers have stopped supporting a series, the removedframe sequences may be their previous advertisements. In certain otherpreferred embodiments, the content of the previous episode may have beenrendered irrelevant by subsequent events and therefore no longerrelevant to be stored.

The fifth horizontal layer includes one frame sequence 330. This mayrepresent an archival frame sequence where the primary characters wereintroduced in certain preferred embodiments of the invention. This mayalso an archival frame sequence where the current dominant plot in asoap opera was introduced in certain preferred embodiments of theinvention. In certain other preferred embodiments of the invention, thismay represent an overview to an advertiser's product line.

In certain alternative preferred embodiments of the invention,continuous play stream 300 is the “raw” continuous play stream, such thefootage of interview, athletic event, or soap opera, by way of example.Segments 320, 322, 324, 326, 328 and 330 all reference the same rawfootage. Segment 320 is a subsequence of sequence 300, where the personbeing interviewed may discuss a specific handbag that they own. Insequence 322, the subject is showing their wallet. In sequence 326, thesubject discusses how they acquired the wallet. In sequence 324, thesubject demonstrates one of the contents of the handbag, such as aconcert ticket. In sequence 328, the subject tells a story inspired byone of the contents of the handbag, such as the concert ticket discussedin sequence 324. In sequence 330, subject sings a song from the concertas told in sequence 328. It should be noted that other annotations couldbe derived by other editors.

The storage of the “raw” content need only be done once. The segmentdescriptions represent a very amount of data compared to the continuousplay streams they reference. One second of MPEG 2 audio-video content istypically between one half to one megabyte. Each segment referencingthat content would typically take less than a few hundred bytes in manypreferred embodiments of the invention and might well reference manyseconds of content. The separation of segment description tables fromthe storage of continuous play content is thus advantageous in certainpreferred embodiment of the invention. The segment description tablesmay thus be supplied separately from the “raw” continuous play mediastream in certain other preferred embodiments.

FIG. 9A depicts components included in a description 340 of a segment inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. A segment description340 includes but is not limited to a segment identifier 342, firstterminus 344, second terminus 346, continuity link 348 and expansionlink pointer 350. A segment identifier 342 in certain preferredembodiments is a number, an address within the addressing system, a filename in a file management system such as a disk drive or an offset intoa stream recording system. A first terminus 344 represents the start ofthe displayable content of the segment in certain preferred embodimentsof the invention. A second terminus 346 represents the end of thedisplayable content of the segment in certain preferred embodiments ofthe invention. A continuity link 348 direct the various methods ofplaying a successor segment when playing the current segment iscompleted and no segment expansion is requested. An expansion linkpointer 350 points to an expansion link description as discussedhereafter.

FIG. 9B depicts components included in a description of an expansionlink 462. In certain preferred embodiments, an expansion linkdescription 462 includes but is not limited to an expansion segmentidentifier 352 and an expansion link pointer 356. In certain furtherpreferred embodiments, an expansion link description 462 furtherincludes but is not limited to a cue definition 354. In certain furtherpreferred embodiments, an expansion link description 462 furtherincludes but is not limited to a continuity link offset 358. Anexpansion segment identifier 352 in certain preferred embodiments is anumber, an address within the addressing system, a file name in a filemanagement system such as a disk drive or an offset into a streamrecording system. Expansion link pointer 356 either points to anotherexpansion link description or else indicates that there is no expansionlink description.

A cue definition in certain preferred embodiment of the inventiondefines how an expansion link is selected. In certain further preferredembodiments of the invention, the cue definition further defines adiscernible entity displayed within the segment, which may be selectedto indicate selection of the associated expansion link. In certainfurther preferred embodiments of the invention, the cue definition mayfurther indicate highlighting the discernible entity.

FIG. 9C depicts a collection 420 of segment descriptions, a collection460 of expansion links and a continuous play content store 470 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Each row of thecollection 420 represents a segment description. Each row of thecollection 460 represents an expansion link description. Continuous playcontent store 470 in certain preferred embodiments of the inventionincludes at least three segments of continuous play streams.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart depicting playing one or more continuous playsegments in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Start 500may operate upon the systems resources, causing at least temporaryallocation of the system resources needed for the operation of thismethod. Arrow 502 directs execution to operation 504, which fetches asegment descriptor.

Arrow 506 directs execution to operation 508. Operation 508 performsbeginning fetch of multimedia segment, fetching expansion link list(510), playing multimedia segment and optionally highlighting expansioncue. In certain preferred embodiments, beginning fetch of multimediasegment entails initiating an access to a multimedia store. Once such aninitiation has begun, the data will be transferred by the access of themultimedia store for an extended length of time. In certain preferredembodiments of the invention, the fetching of the expansion link listoccurs concurrently with the beginning of fetching the multimediasegment. In certain preferred embodiments, once the fetching of themultimedia segment has begun, playing the multimedia segment starts. Incertain preferred embodiments of the invention optional highlighting ofexpansion cues starts when the fetch of multimedia segment has begun andthe fetching of the expansion link list is completed and the playing ofthe multimedia segment starts.

Operation 508 further plays a multimedia segment, highlighting optionalexpansion cues. Note that expansion cues may include but are not limitedto a user numerically selecting the player number and team in a teamsport in certain preferred embodiments. In certain other preferredembodiments a user may select a discernible entity. In certain furtherpreferred embodiments, the display may highlight one or more of thediscernible entity cues.

Arrow 516 directs execution to start operation 518, which determineswhether an expansion cue has been selected. Note that arrow 516 must dothis before operation 508 has completed playing the current continuousplay segment in certain preferred embodiments of the invention. Incertain further preferred embodiments of the invention, the arrow 516schedules operation 518 at least a predetermined time interval beforethe completion of playing the multimedia segment.

If an expansion cue has not been selected, arrow 520 directs executionto operation 522, which determines whether the continuity link of thesegment indicates a non-segment. If the continuity link indicates asegment, the current segment is set to the continuity link segment byoperation 532 and execution is directed by arrows 530 and 502 tooperation 504, which fetches the segment descriptor and iterating theoperations described above. If the continuity link indicates anon-segment execution is directed to operation 524, which determines ifthe link stack is empty. If the link stack is empty, execution isdirected to operation 526, halting the playing of the multimedia segmentat the second terminus of the segment. If the link stack is not empty,execution is directed to operation 528 which determines if the linkstack has been fully processed. Operation 528 will be described indetail in the discussion of FIG. 12 below. If operation 528 determinesthat the link stack has been fully processed, execution is directed tohalt the playing of the multimedia segment at the second terminus. Ifoperation 528 determines that the link stack has not been fullyprocessed, execution is directed by arrows 530 and 502 to iterate theabove described operations starting at operation 504.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting fetching an expansion link list used asoperation 510 as part of operation 508 in FIG. 10 in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. Execution begins with the initialization ofLINK_PTR=SEGMENT.EXPANSION_LINK_PTR. This is a symbolic notation havinga comparable meaning in many computer programming languages, where thecurrent segment description incorporates an expansion link pointer,which is used to initialize a variable which will be used to traversethe expansion link list associated with this segment. Arrow 542 directsexecution to operation 544, which determines whether LINK_PTR is not thenull link pointer. If LINK_PTR is the null link pointer, execution isdirected to exit this flowchart and return to the other tasks to be donein operation 508. Operations 548 fetches the expansion link at LINK_PTRto THIS_LINK, which in certain preferred embodiments of the invention isa memory buffer. The memory buffer THIS_LINK is then loaded into theexpansion link table for the segment in certain preferred embodiments ofthe invention. Operation 552 then sets LINK_PTR to theEXPANSION_LINK_POINTER component of the expansion link description.Arrow 554 then directs execution to arrow 542 to repeat the operationsdescribed above starting with operation 544.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart depicting operation 528, which determines whetherthe link stack has been fully processed in FIG. 10 in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. Arrow 560 directs execution to operation562, which determines if the top of the link stack is a non-segment.

If the top of the link stack is a segment, execution is directed tooperation 564 which pops the link stack segment into segment, which isthe next segment to be played. Execution is then directed to operation572, which returns a NO.

If the top of the link stack is not a segment, execution is directed tooperation 566, which removes the top of the link stack. Execution isthen directed to operation 568, which determines if the link stack isnon-empty. If the link stack is empty, execution is directed tooperation 574, which returns YES. If the link stack is not empty, arrows570 and 560 direct execution to operation 562 iterating upon theoperations described above.

FIG. 13 is a state table of a system in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention utilizing flowcharts 10-12 and segment descriptions,expansion links and overall structure of FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C to performactions as represented in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Heading 580 presents thecolumn headings. The state of the content player is found in each of therows beneath the headings. The first column is called the play segment,which is the current segment being played. The second column is thecontinuity segment of the current play segment. The third column is theexpansion link list of the current play segment. The fourth columnrepresents state of the link stack while playing the current segment.

Row 582 depicts the state of the content player while playing segment100. The play segment is segment 100. The continuity segment of playsegment 100 is designated by arrow 114 pointing to segment 104 in FIG.3B. The expansion link list of the current play segment is designated byarrow 116 to segment 102 in FIG. 3B followed by a null pointer. The linkstack is empty while playing the current play segment.

Row 584 depicts the state of the content player while playing theexpansion segment 102. The play segment is segment 102. The continuitysegment of play segment is designated by arrow 118 pointing tonon-segment in FIG. 3B in certain preferred embodiments. The expansionlink list of the current play segment designates no segments in FIG. 3B.The link stack contains a link designated by arrow 114 to segment 104while playing the current play segment.

Row 586 depicts the state of the content player while playing thecontinuity segment 104. The play segment is segment 104. The continuitysegment of play segment is designated by arrow 122 pointing tonon-segment in FIG. 3B in certain preferred embodiments. The expansionlink list of the current play segment designates no segments in FIG. 3B.The link stack is empty while playing the current play segment.

FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with anembodiment of the invention supporting the capturing and playing ofcontinuous play expansion segments. The apparatus includes an externalinterface circuit 600, writeable content store 602, digital controller604, display circuit 618 and selector circuit 622.

Digital controller 604 includes a link segment association table 606.The link segment association table in certain embodiments is constructedin a manner compatible with the discussion of FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C above.Note that in certain preferred embodiments, the link segment associationtable 606 contains the segment description and link descriptionsrelevant to the segment currently playing. In certain further preferredembodiments, the link segment association table 606 further contains thesegment description and link descriptions relevant to the continuingsegment of the current playing segment. In certain other preferredembodiments the link segment association table 606 further contains thesegment description and link descriptions relevant to an expansionsegment which may be or has been selected during the playing of thecurrent segment. In certain other preferred embodiments the link segmentassociation table 606 may further contain the segment description andlink descriptions relevant to the top element of the link stack.

Digital controller 604 embodiments include but are not limited to one ormore of the following: general purpose microprocessors, DSPs, parallelprocessors, embedded controllers and special purpose system controllers.General purpose microprocessors include but are not limited to variousword width CISC and RISC. DSPs include but are not limited to variousword width computers employing instruction sets allowing at least oneadd/subtract operation as well as at least one operation comparable tomultiplication to be performed in a single instruction cycle. Parallelprocessor include but are not limited to SIMD, MIMD, and hybridSIMD/MIMD organizations of either uniform or non-uniform processors.

Digital controller 604 embodiments further include but are not limitedto one or more microprocessors or DSPs along with additional circuitryperforming specialized data processing. Digital controller 604embodiments may further include but are not limited to capabilities forMPEG stream partitioning and/or decoding, copy protection processing,decryption, authentication and block data error detection andcorrection. Digital controller 604 embodiments may further include butare not limited to various implementations as PLAs, CPLDs, FPGAs, ASICsand ASSPs.

Digital controller 604 embodiments may further include local memoryresources in the form of RAM and nonvolatile memory and may furtherinclude but is not limited to various forms of RAM and one or morecaching banks of RAM. Digital controller 604 embodiments of theinvention may further include but are not limited to one or more ofmemory caches physically proximate to and possibly contained within thedigital controller 604 embodiments package or packages. Memory cachingmay include but is not limited to separate caching of memory and data.Memory caching may further include but is not limited to multiple layersof cache structures. Distinct processors within the digital controller604 embodiments of the invention may further possess distinct caches aswell as further localized memory which may in turn include RAM and/ornonvolatile memory. Digital controller 604 embodiments of the inventionnonvolatile memory may further include but is not limited to boot ROMsand flash memory circuits which may further emulate disk drives with aform of file management system.

The external interface circuit 600 is coupled to digital controller 604as shown by arrow 608. One external interface circuit 600 embodiment ofthe invention incorporates a RF tuner including but not limited todemodulators and/or modulators for various broadcast protocols such asFM, FDMA, TDMA, various spread spectrum protocols, Wavelength DivisionMultiple Access and wavelet division multiple access. Embodiments ofexternal interface circuit 600 RF tuners may employ wireline or wirelessphysical transport layers. Embodiments of external interface circuit600, wireline physical transports include but are limited to twistedpair, coaxial cable and various optical fiber mechanisms. Embodiments ofexternal interface circuit 600, wireless physical transports include butare not limited to contemporary broadcast television, HDTV, as well asvarious radio frequency, microwave and infra red schemes which may wellincorporate an antenna, sensor or array of antennas or sensors.

Certain preferred embodiments of external interface circuit 600 includebut are not limited to modems. Embodiments of external interface circuit600, modems include but are not limited to telephone line modemsincorporating various transceiver rates which may not be the same forreception as for transmission, as well as various DSL, ADSL, XDSL, ISBN,Ethernet, Token Ring and ATM interfaces. Embodiments of externalinterface circuit 600, modem physical transport layers include but arenot limited to wire line and wireless transport layers. Embodiments ofexternal interface circuit 600, modem wire line physical transportlayers include but are not limited to telephone lines, twisted pair wirelines, coaxial cabling and various optical fiber technologies.Embodiments of external interface circuit 600, modem wireless transportlayers include but are not limited to directional and non-directionalradio, microwave, infrared and optical schemes.

Embodiments of external interface circuit 600 may access externalcontent located at a substantial distance, often embodied within aserver supporting a network of user systems via interconnectionsembodiments of external interface circuit 600. Such networks may furthersupport TCP/IP thereby enabling support for the Internet. Such networksmay further support one or more Intranets. Such networks may furthersupport one or more Extranets.

Embodiments of external interface circuit 600 may include but are notlimited to video input devices, often possessing external interfacesincluding video frame capturing circuitry. Embodiments of externalinterface circuit 600 may further include image processing circuitryfurther supporting MPEG compatible compression of the captured videostream.

Coupling 608 can be implemented as a set of connections directly betweenexternal interface circuit 600 and digital controller 604 in certainpreferred embodiments of the invention. This coupling 608 can also beimplemented as a shared set of connections with other circuitry in otherpreferred embodiments of the invention. Further preferred embodimentsinclude effecting these couplings as transactions on the shared set ofconnections. Further preferred embodiments of the invention includethese shared connections forming a bus possessing a bus protocol.Further preferred embodiments of the invention include the bussupporting a digital bus protocol. Other preferred embodiments of theinvention include the bus supporting and encoded digital signalingwithin an essentially analog protocol, including but not limited toprotocols such as Firewire (P1394) and other optical fibercommunications protocols.

The external interface circuit 600 is also coupled to writeable contentstore 602 as shown by arrow 612. Coupling 612 may be effected by adedicated interconnection in certain preferred embodiments of theinvention. Coupling 612 may be further effected by a sharedinterconnection with other couplings, such as coupling 608 in certainfurther preferred embodiments.

The writeable content store 602 is coupled to digital controller 604 asshown by arrow 610. This coupling 610 in certain preferred embodiment ofthe invention may be a direct interface to digital controller 604 as acollection of electrical connections to electrical contacts between thepackage of digital controller 604 and writeable content store 602. Incertain other preferred embodiments of the invention, the coupling 610may be effected by a high speed communications line including but notlimited to Fiber Channel or ATM-SONET between digital controller 604 andwriteable content store 602.

The writeable content store 602 is coupled to display circuit 618 asshown by arrow 614. This coupling 614 in certain preferred embodimentsof the invention may be a direct interface between display circuit 618and writeable content store 602. In certain other preferred embodimentsof the invention, the coupling 614 may be effected by a high speedcommunications line including but not limited to Fiber Channel orATM-SONET between display circuit 618 and writeable content store 602.

Display circuit 618 is coupled to digital controller 604 as shown byarrow 616. This coupling 616 in certain preferred embodiments of theinvention may be a direct interface between display circuit 618 andwriteable content store 602. In certain other preferred embodiments ofthe invention, the coupling 616 may be effected by a high speedcommunications line including but not limited to Fiber Channel orATM-SONET between display circuit 618 and writeable content store 602.

Display circuit 618 embodiments may further include but are not limitedto capabilities for MPEG stream partitioning and/or decoding, copyprotection processing, decryption, authentication and block data errordetection and correction.

Selector circuit 622 is coupled to digital controller 604 by arrow 620.This coupling 616 in certain preferred embodiments of the invention maybe a direct interface between display circuit 618 and writeable contentstore 602. In certain other preferred embodiments of the invention, thecoupling may be effected by a communications line protocol including butnot limited to RS-232, USB or RS-485 between display circuit 618 andwriteable content store 602.

Note that in certain preferred embodiments of the invention, displaycircuit 618 includes but is not limited to format translationcapabilities. In further preferred embodiments of the invention, theformat translation capabilities further include and are not limited toMPEG stream decompression capabilities. In other further preferredembodiments of the invention, the format translation capabilitiesinclude wavelet algorithmic decompression capabilities. In other furtherpreferred embodiments of the invention, the format translationcapabilities include fractal algorithm decompression capabilities.Further preferred embodiments of the invention include but are notlimited to 3-D displays as well as multiple perspective displays ofhigher dimensional continuous content.

Note that further preferred embodiments include but are not limited toaudio presentation circuitry. Further preferred embodiments include butare not limited to force feedback tactile interfaces.

FIG. 15 shows a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with certainpreferred embodiments of the invention supporting the capturing andplaying of continuous play expansion segments. The apparatus includes anexternal interface circuit 600, writeable content store 602, digitalcontroller 604, display circuit 618 and selector circuit 622 as well asa second external interface circuit 642.

The digital controller 604 includes a link segment association table 606as in FIG. 14. Note that in certain preferred embodiments, the linksegment association table 606 contains the segment description and linkdescriptions relevant to the segment currently playing. In certainfurther preferred embodiments, the link segment association table 606further contains the segment description and link descriptions relevantthe continuing segment of the current playing segment. In certain otherpreferred embodiments the link segment association table 606 furthercontains the segment description and link descriptions relevant to anexpansion segment which may be selected during the playing of thecurrent segment. In certain other preferred embodiments the link segmentassociation table 606 may further contain the segment description andlink descriptions relevant to the top element of the link stack.

The digital controller 604 further includes a format translator 636. Incertain preferred embodiments of the invention, format translator 636supports translation of one or more MPEG compression formats. In certainpreferred embodiments of the invention, format translator 636 supportstranslation of one or more formats incorporating wavelet compressionalgorithms. In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, formattranslator 636 supports translation of one or more formats incorporatingfractal compression algorithms.

The coupling of external interface circuit 600, digital controller 604,writeable content store 602, selector circuit 622 and second externalinterface circuit 642 is effected by a bus 624, with each of theseentities being accessible for bus transactions as indicated by arrows626, 632, 628, 630 and 640 respectively.

In certain preferred embodiments, a compressed MPEG stream may be thestandard format protocol by which continuous play content is received,transferred and stored. Such a compressed stream can be readily handledby bus 624 implemented as an inexpensive computer bus such as ISA. Sucha bus 624 implementation can also readily handle the control andfeedback transactions between the external interface circuit 600,digital controller 604, writeable content store 602, selector circuit622 and second external interface circuit 642. An alternative bus 624implementation includes but is not limited to PCI bus implementations.

Display circuit 618 is coupled to digital controller 604 by a bus 634.Bus 634 is advantageous in certain preferred embodiments to handle thebandwidth of uncompressed frame data to the display circuit, which foran exemplary compression technology such as MPEG can often be greaterthan a factor of 100 more compressed stream bandwidth. Specificpreferred embodiments of bus 634 include but are not limited to PCI busimplementations. Alternative specific preferred embodiments of bus 634include but are not limited to AGP bus implementations. Furtherpreferred embodiments of the invention include but are not limited to3-D displays as well as multiple perspective displays of higherdimensional continuous content.

In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, digital controller604 may be packaged as a single package, or as a single multi-chipmodule or as a tightly coupled chip set. In certain further preferredembodiments of the invention, bus 634 has an internal bridged versionbus 636, which directly interfaces to format translator 638. This isadvantageous when line drive and/or transmission line noise issuesbecome dominant, to name one circumstance by way of example. In certainalternative embodiments, bus 634 and bus 636 form a single contiguousbus.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodiment shouldnot be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for playing a stored content comprising:providing a plurality of segments which collectively comprise saidstored content, wherein each of said segments has a first terminus and asecond terminus; wherein content in each of said segments has a temporalflow from said first terminus to said second terminus, and wherein atleast one segment is associated with a plurality of links to acorresponding plurality of other of said segments; playing said at leastone segment with said temporal flow; determining prior to reaching saidsecond terminus whether a content expansion is desired; and linking toan expansion segment and playing said expansion segment if said contentexpansion is desired and to a continuing segment and playing saidcontinuing segment if said content expansion is not desired, where thereis an additional link from said expansion segment to said continuingsegment such that said continuing segment is played after said expansionsegment has been played.
 2. A method for playing a stored content asrecited in claim 1 wherein at least one of said continuing segmentscontains a landing sub-segment having a first landing sub-segmentterminus and a second landing sub-segment terminus and wherein saidlinking of said expansion segment to said continuing segment and playingsaid continuing segment can proceed from a starting point of saidlanding sub-segment after playing said expansion segment.
 3. A methodfor playing a stored content as recited in claim 2 wherein said firstlanding sub-segment terminus of said continuing segment substantiallycoincides with said first terminus of said continuing sub-segment.
 4. Amethod for playing a stored content as recited in claim 2 wherein saidstarting point of said continuing segment after playing said expandingsegment substantially coincides with said first landing sub-segmentterminus of said continuing segment.
 5. A method for playing a storedcontent as recited in claim 2 wherein said starting point of saidcontinuing segment after playing said expanding segment substantiallycoincides with said second landing sub-segment terminus of saidcontinuing segment.
 6. A method for playing a stored content as recitedin claim 1 wherein at least one of said expansion segments contains acontraction zone significantly preceding said second terminus; furthercomprising determining within playing said expansion segment containingsaid contraction zone prior to reaching said contraction zone whether apremature contraction is desired; and wherein playing said continuingsegment follows playing said contraction zone if said prematurecontraction is desired.
 7. A method for playing a stored content asrecited in claim 1 wherein playing said segments further compriseshighlighting an expansion segment cue corresponding to one of saidexpansion links; and wherein determining prior to reaching said secondterminus whether a content expansion is desired further comprisesdetermining whether said expansion segment cue is selected.
 8. A methodfor playing a stored content as recited in claim 7 wherein playing saidsegments further comprises playing at least one discernible entity andwherein highlighting said expansion segment cue comprises highlightingassociated with one of said discernible entities.
 9. A method forplaying a stored content as recited in claim 8 wherein determiningwhether said expansion segment cue highlighted by said associateddiscernible entity is selected further comprises determining whethersaid associated discernible entity is selected.
 10. A method for playinga stored content as recited in claim 8 wherein linking to said expansionsegment and playing said expansion segment further comprises playing atransition from said highlighting said associated discernible entity toplaying said expansion segment.
 11. A method for playing a storedcontent as recited in claim 1 wherein linking to said segment furthercomprises requesting said segment, wherein said providing said pluralityof said segments further comprises transmitting said requested segmentto a segment player and wherein playing said segment further comprisesplaying said requested and transmitted segment on said segment player.12. A method for playing a stored content as recited in claim 1 whereineach of said segments is associated with a link corresponding to saidcontinuing segment.
 13. A method for playing a stored content as recitedin claim 1 wherein linking a segment further comprises reading a linksegment association table and wherein providing said associating of oneof said segments to one of said links and said corresponding one of saidsegments further comprises reading said link segment association table.14. A method for playing a stored content comprising: providing aplurality of segments which collectively comprise said stored content,wherein each of said segments has a first terminus and a second terminusand a continuity link associated with a member of the collection of asegment indicator and a non-segment indicator; wherein content in eachof said segments has a temporal flow from said first terminus to saidsecond terminus; and wherein at least one segment is associated with aplurality of expansion links to a corresponding plurality of other ofsaid segments; playing said at least one segment with said temporalflow; determining prior to reaching said second terminus whether acontent expansion is desired; and linking to an expansion segment,pushing said continuity link onto a link stack and playing saidexpansion segment if said content expansion is desired; and linking to acontinuing segment and playing said continuing segment if said contentexpansion is not desired and if said continuity link indicates saidcontinuing segment.
 15. A method for playing a stored content as recitedin claim 14 further comprising: determining if said link stack is empty,popping said link stack, playing said segment indicated by popped saidlink stack if said content expansion is not desired, and if determiningsaid link stack is not empty and if said continuity link indicates anon-segment and if said popped link stack indicated a segment.
 16. Amethod for playing a stored content as recited in claim 15 furthercomprising: halting said playing upon reaching said second terminus ifsaid content expansion is not desired and if said link stack isdetermined to be empty and if said continuity link indicates anon-segment.
 17. A method for playing a stored content as recited inclaim 14 wherein at least one of said expansion segments contains acontraction zone significantly preceding said second terminus; furthercomprising determining within playing said expansion segment containingsaid contraction zone prior to reaching said contraction zone whether apremature contraction is desired; and wherein playing said continuingsegment follows playing said contraction zone if said prematurecontraction is desired.
 18. A method for playing a stored content asrecited in claim 14 wherein playing said segments further compriseshighlighting an expansion segment cue corresponding to one of saidexpansion links; and wherein determining prior to reaching said secondterminus whether a content expansion is desired further comprisesdetermining whether said expansion segment cue is selected.
 19. A methodfor playing a stored content as recited in claim 18 wherein playing saidsegments further comprises playing at least one discernible entity; andwherein highlighting said expansion segment cue comprises highlightingassociated with one of said discernible entities.
 20. A method forplaying a stored content as recited in claim 19 wherein determiningwhether said expansion segment cue highlighted by said associateddiscernible entity is selected further comprises determining whethersaid associated discernible entity is selected.
 21. A method for playinga stored content as recited in claim 20 wherein linking to saidexpansion segment and playing said expansion segment further comprisesplaying a transition from said highlighting said associated discernibleentity to playing said expansion segment.
 22. A method for playing astored content as recited in claim 14 wherein linking to said segmentfurther comprises requesting said segment; wherein said providing saidplurality of said segments further comprises transmitting said requestedsegment to a segment player; and wherein playing said segment furthercomprises playing said requested and transmitted segment on said segmentplayer.
 23. A method for playing a stored content as recited in claim 14wherein each of said segments is associated with a link corresponding tosaid continuing segment.
 24. A method for playing a stored content asrecited in claim 14 wherein linking a segment further comprises readinga link segment association table; and wherein providing said associatingof one of said segments to one of said links and said corresponding oneof said segments further comprises reading said link segment associationtable.
 25. A method for playing a stored content as recited in claim 14wherein at least one of said continuing segments contains a landingsub-segment having a first landing sub-segment terminus and a secondlanding sub-segment terminus and wherein said linking of said expansionsegment to said continuing segment and playing said continuing segmentcan proceed from a starting point of said landing sub-segment afterplaying said expansion segment.
 26. A method for playing a storedcontent as recited in claim 25 wherein said first landing sub-segmentterminus of said continuing segment substantially coincides with saidfirst terminus of said continuing sub-segment.
 27. A method for playinga stored content as recited in claim 25 wherein said starting point ofsaid continuing segment after playing said expanding segmentsubstantially coincides with said first landing sub-segment terminus ofsaid continuing segment.
 28. A method for playing a stored content asrecited in claim 25 wherein said starting point of said continuingsegment after playing said expanding segment substantially coincideswith said second landing sub-segment terminus of said continuingsegment.
 29. A storage device for a segmented continuous play mediastream comprising: at least three segments, each segment comprising afirst terminus and a second terminus wherein said segmented continuousplay media stream within each segment progresses from said firstterminus to said second terminus; wherein at least one of said segmentscontains a plurality of links to a corresponding plurality of other ofsaid segments further comprising a continuation link and at least oneexpansion link and a cue associated with each of said expansion links,stored in said containing segment substantially before said segmentedcontinuous play media stream progresses to said second terminus of saidcontaining segment; wherein said segmented continuous play media streamof said containing segment progresses to said first terminus of saidcorresponding continuation link segment after progress to saidcontaining segment second terminus; and wherein said segmentedcontinuous play media stream of said containing segment progresses tosaid first terminus of said corresponding expansion link segment afterprogress to said containing segment second terminus.
 30. A storagedevice as in claim 29 wherein each of said segments comprising saidsegmented continuous play media stream contains said continuation linkto said corresponding segment.
 31. A storage device as in claim 30wherein said corresponding continuation link segment may designate anull segment terminating said segmented continuous play media streamwhen said segmented continuous play media stream progresses to saidsecond terminus.
 32. A storage mechanism referencing a continuous playmedia stream segment store comprising a collection of at least threesegment descriptors each of said segment descriptors comprising a firstterminus referencing a first time point of a continuous play mediastream segment contained in said continuous play media stream segmentstore; a second terminus referencing a second time point of saidcontinuous play media stream segment contained in said continuous playmedia stream segment store; a continuity link representing one of acollection comprising an indicator of another of segment descriptors andan indicator to a non-segment; and a collection of at least oneexpansion link elements each of said expansion link elements comprisingan expansion segment indicator, an expansion cue indicator and anindicator of one of a collection of an indicator of another of saidexpansion link elements and an indicator of a non-expansion linkelement; wherein each of said segment descriptors further comprises oneof said indicators of one of said expansion link element.
 33. A storagemechanism referencing a continuous play media stream segment store as inclaim 32 wherein said expansion cue indicator further comprises ahighlighting descriptor.
 34. A storage mechanism referencing acontinuous play media stream segment store as in claim 32 wherein eachof said expansion link elements further comprises a continuing segmentlanding offset.